2. Subject: Unexplained Lights
Later in the night a red sun/ike light was seen
through the trees. It moved about and pulsed. At
one point it appeared to throw off glowing particles
and then broke into five separate white objects and
then disappeared. Immediately thereafter, three
starlike objects were noticed in the sky, two objects
to the north and one to the south, all of which
were about 1oo off the horizon. The objects moved
rapidly in sharp angular movements and displayed
red, green and blue lights. The objects to the north
appeared to be elliptical through an 8-12 power
lens. Then they turned to full circles. The objects
to the north remained in the sky for an hour or
more. The object to the south was visible for two
or three hours and beamed down a stream of light
from time to time. Numerous individuals, including
the undersigned, witnessed the activities.
-from an oHicial memorandum
wriHen by Charles I. Halt, Lt. Col., USAF
to the British Ministry of Defense
January 13, 1981

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4. THE
REPORT
EDITED BY
TIMOTHY
GOOD
AVON BOOKS 0 NEW YORK

5. If you pu r chased this book without a cover, you shou ld be aware that
this book is stolen property . It was reported as ''unsold a nd de stroyed "
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AVO N BOOKS
A div ision of
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Copy right e 1989 by Ti mothy Goo d
Cover photograph by Dan iel Fry
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All rights reserved, whi ch in cludes the right to reprodu ce this book or
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6. Contents
Editor s Foreword vii
1 A British Perspective 1988
GRAHAM AND MARK BIRDSALL
2 UFO Lands i n Suffolk-and That's Official ! 35
RALPH NOYES
3 The English Com Circles in 1988 59
GEORGE W INGFIELD
4 So You Want to Be a Ufologist? 96
PATRICIA GRANT
5 Testimony from Africa 105
CYNTHIA HIND
6 The Soviet Scene 1988 121
NIKOLAI LEBEDEV
7 UFOs in China 1987-88 132
PAUL DONG
8 UFO Encounters along the Nullarbor Plain 145
PAUL NORMAN
9 UFO Crash/Retrievals : Is the Cover-Up Lifting? 169
LEONARD STRINGFIELD
10 The Gulf Breeze (Florida) UFO Encounters 196
DONALD WARE

7. vi T H E U FO REPORT
Appendix
Some Major UFO Organizations 223
The Crop Circles 224
Some UFO Journals 225
Bibliography 226
Services 228
Index 231

8. Ed itor's Foreword
"Whatever anyone will say, both my son and I will never
forget the 19th November, 1987 , " wrote Mrs . Barbara
Forrest, in a letter to me describing a sighting at Brierley
Hill, West Midlands, on that evening. "The craft came so
very low, to enable us to have a very close look . It was
massive , wonderful , and frighteni ng . ' '
Mrs . Forrest and her son were just two of hundreds of
witnesses who reported UFOs during the latter half of
1987 , when a massive wave of sightings proliferated
throughout the U . K . and in many other countries ; a wave
which was to continue unabated in 1988.
With a few exceptions (such as the Nullarbor case , de­
scribed in Chapter 8) the national media continue to ig­
nore these important events, or to pour scorn on the
subject . ' ' Ladies and gentlemen , boys and girls , ' ' began
Michael Thompson-Noel in a lengthy article for the Fi­
nancial Times in June 1988, "believe it or not but the
modern religion of Ufology today enters its 42nd year. . . .
It is a religion of the space age that offers us heavenly
lights , god-like aliens and flying green jellies . ' ' Ufology,
said Mr. Thompson-Noel , is based on "a rubbish­
mountain of non-evidence. ' ' 1
Since Above Top Secret was published in June 1987 , my
travels have taken me to Australia, Brazil , Canada, the
U . S . A . , and the U . S. S .R. I have found encouraging signs
that not all journalists share Mr. Thompson-Noel 's view.
And in the Soviet Union , I had the opportunity of express­
ing my own views in an interview for Leningrad TV 's
Open Door program in January 1989 . That would have
been inconceivable only a few years ago .
On October 14, 1988 a two-hour TV documentary, UFO
vii

9. viii TH E U FO REPORT
Cover Up ? Live, was shown in the U . S .A. , Canada , Aus­
tralia, and New Zealand. The program included l ive par­
ticipation from Washington DC , Gulf Breeze, Florida, and
Moscow. A telephone poll conducted during and after the
program revealed that 30, 835 people had experienced a
Close Encounter of the First Kind (CEI-UFO seen within
500 ft) ; 2 ,482 reported a CEil (involving physical evi­
dence); 1 ,477 a CElli (alien occupants seen); and an
astonishing 2, 969 witnesses who claimed to have been ab­
ducted by aliens (CEIV) .2
On the program, Paul Shartle , former security man­
ager and chief of requirement for the audio-visual pro­
gram at Norton Air Force Base , California, revealed the
existence of an official film taken at Holloman AFB , New
Mexico, which allegedly shows a UFO landing and the
occupants communicating with various personnel at the
base . Interviewed with Shartle was the TV producer Rob­
ert Emenegger, who obtained the film via the Pentagon in
the early 1970s when he was in the process of making a
documentary on the subject. He had hoped to include the
film in his documentary, but permission was suddenly
withdrawn .
Two alleged U . S . Govern ment intelligence agents ,
"Condor" and " Falcon, " appeared on the documentary,
with their faces blacked out and voices electronically mod­
ulated. They confirmed the exi stence of the so-called
' 'Majestic- 12 ' ' committee, establi shed under President
Truman in 1947 , following the retrieval of an alien space­
craft and its dead occupants in the New Mexican desert
(details of which were first published in Above Top Secret) .
They further revealed that there had been actual commu­
nication with a number of extraterrestrials.
All this could be disinformation, of course. And the
obtrusive synthesized background music that pervaded the
entire documentary did little to enhance the agents ' cred­
ibility. Nonetheless, I have been informed that their cre­
dentials, at least, are bona fide.
Many people have written to ask me if the Majestic- 12
briefing document , prepared for President-elect Eisen­
hower by former CIA director Vice-Admiral Roscoe Hil­
lenkoetter in November 1952, reproduced for the first time

10. Editor's Foreword lx
in Above Top Secret, is authentic . The document (which I
obtained from a CIA source) received world-wide public­
ity in 1987 , and lengthy_ articles appeared in such news­
papers as the Observer and the New Y ork Times. The
document's authenticity has been questioned by the Dwight
D. Eisenhower Library, the Harry S Truman Library, and
the National Archives , but a great deal of information has
now surfaced which tends to indicate that it is genuine.
A 1954 top secret memorandum from presidential as­
sistant Robert Cutler to the then Air Force Chief of Staff,
General Nathan 1vining , makes reference to the ' 'MJ- 12
Special Studies Project'' in connection with a meeting at
the White House on July 16 that year. The memorandum
was located in the files of USAF Intelligence at the Na­
tional Archives, and there is every indication that it is
genuine.
Dr. Roger Wescott, Professor of Anthropology and Lin­
guistics at Drew University, Madison, New Jersey, has
compared the writing style on the Eisenhower briefing pa­
per with known-to-be-authentic examples of Hillenkoet­
ter's writings . In April 1988 he stated as follows: ' ' . . . In
my opinion , there is no compelling reason to regard any
of these communications as fraudulent or to believe that
any of them were written by anyone other than Hillen­
koetter himself. ' '3
This does not, of course , prove that the document is
legitimate. Further research is currently being done by
Jaime Shandera, William Moore, and Stanton Friedman ,
and $ 1 6',000 has been appropriated by the Fund for UFO
Research so that Friedman can devote several months to
the project . At the time of writing, there are some posi­
tively encouraging developments .
Sightings by civil and military pilots continue to impress
me. In Chapter 5, Cynthia Hind gives us details of a UFO
report made by the crew and passengers aboard a Mo­
zambique Airlines (LAM) plane, as well as air traffic con­
trollers, at Beira, on February 11 , 1988.
1vo days earlier, on February 9, an unidentified object
was observed over Medellin airport in Bogota, Columbia ,
by several pilots and air traffic controllers . The crews of

11. X T H E U FO REPORT
five different aircraft, including a military plane carrying
Army chief General Oscar Botero , reported seeing the ob­
ject, which remained in the area for half an hour. At one
stage , the international Jose Maria Cordova airport control
tower actually gave landing instructions to the UFO, be­
lieving it to be a private plane . The crew of an Avianca
Boeing 727 radioed the control tower that the object was
following them, and the tower ordered the plane to circle
instead of landing , to avoid a collision .
Significantly, an aeronautical board imposed a news
blackout on the incident, but a journalist who later suc­
ceeded in obtaining permission from the. regional prose­
cutor to listen to the tapes of air traffic communications,
reported that the object looked like a fast-moving star. 4
Later that month a helicopter had a near collision with
a 300-ft-long UFO over southern England . It was estab­
lished beyond doubt that no other aircraft were in the area
at the time . I have interviewed the pilot and hope to pub­
lish details of this important case in the near future .
On March 18 , 1988 a Xinjiang Airlines plane encoun­
tered a UFO over China . As in the Mozambique Airlines
incident, the captain signaled the intruder with the plane's
landing lights . (See Chapter 7 . )
O n October 3 , 1988 two Brazilian airliners (of VARIG
and VASP) were followed for fifteen minutes by a circular
object, which was also detected on radar.
Another interesting revelation in 1988 was that ex­
President Ronald Reagan had witnessed a UFO while he
was Governor of California in 1974 . ''We were flying near
Bakersfield when Governor Reagan and the others called
my attention to a big light flying a bit behind my plane.
It appeared to be several hundred yards away,' ' reported
Reagan 's pilot , Bill Paynter. ' ' It began to accelerate, then
it appeared to elongate . Then . . . the UFO went from a
normal cruise speed to a fantastic speed instantly. ' '
Reagan himself described the incident to Normal Mil­
ler, then Washington Bureau chief for the W Street Jour­
all
nal. According to Miller, Reagan ordered the pilot to
follow the object. ' 'We followed it for several minutes, ''
said Reagan . "All of a sudden to our utter amazement it
went straight up into the heavens . When I got off the plane

12. Edito�s Foreword xi
I told Nancy all about it. And we read up on the long
history of UFOs . . . ' '
" I dido 't report the conversation at the time, " said Mil­
ler. ' 'Reagan dido 't go into detail about the research he
and his wife had done, because it was at that point that I
asked him if he believed in UFOs, and he clammed up. ' '5
The year 1988 saw the passing of two great pioneers in
UFO research : Donald Keyhoe, who died on November
29 , and Coral Lorenzen, who died on April 12 .
Coral Lorenzen and her husband Jim founded the Aerial
Phenomena Research Organization (APRO) in 1952 . Both
served in the U . S . Air Force and at one time held high
security clearances. Coral was conv inced that UFOs were
of extraterrestrial origin and had been observing our planet
for thousands of years . Her remains are interred at Arling­
ton Cemetery, beside those of her husband.
A graduate of the U . S . Naval Academy and an aide to
Charles Lindbergh , Major Donald Keyhoe served in the
Marine Corps as an aircraft and balloon pilot. He had
many contacts in the Pentagon , and was the first to expose
the UFO cover-up, in a series of articles and books. By
the early 1950s he was convinced that the cover-up was
organized by what he called ' 'The Silence Group . ' ' That
group, in my opinion , was the Majestic- 12 committee, and
this was one reason I dedicated Above T Secret to him ;
op
the other reason being that it was Key hoe's book, The
Flying Saucers Are Real, which stimulated my interest in
the subject back in 1955 .
Sightings have continued in 1989 at a steady rate . The
most important of these was made by the astronauts on
the Discovery space shuttle on March 14. The story first
broke on LBC Radio on March 29, after I had provided
them with a copy of a tape which had been given to me
by former NASA mission specialist , Bob Oechsler. Bob
had received the recording from Donald Ratsch , a radio
ham who had been monitoring the astronauts' communi­
cations, which were being transmitted on WA3NAN , the
Goddard Amateur Radio Club at the NASA Goddard Space
Flight Center, Greenbelt , Maryland, on 147 . 50mhz. At

13. xii T H E U FO REPORT
06: 42hrs EST, as the Discovery was over the French Poly­
nesian Islands in the Pacific , one of the astronauts re­
ported "HOUSTON, THIS IS DISCOVERY. WE STILL HAVE THE
''
ALIEN SPACECRAFT UNDER OBSERVANCE.
At the time of writing, NASA is denying that the inci­
dent took place . Bob Oechsler arranged for independent
voice-print analyses to be made , and the results will be
published in due course . Interestingly, at about 06: 35hrs
EST, Donald Ratsch heard (but did not record) one of the
astronauts say : "WE HAVE A PROBLEM-WE HAVE A FIRE."
According to Bob Oechsler, "Fire " is most probably a
code word . He further believes that the Discovery had been
paced by a UFO for several hours prior to the ' ' Alien
Space Craft" communication . A number of other radio
hams heard both communications.
Finally, I would like to record my thanks to the interna­
tional team of dedicated men and women who have con­
tributed to The UFO Report 1990. I would also like to
thank Lord Rees-Mogg , who suggested the idea ; Cyril
Darbyshire, for translating much of Chapter 6; Duane
Cook, editor of the Gulf Breeze Sentinel, who kindly sup­
plied me with the cover photo , taken by ' 'Jane, ' ' and Do­
rothee, who helped me so much with the typing.
TIMOTHY GOOD
London
Apri/ 1989
REFERENCES
1 . Thompson- Noel , Michael : "Wacky world of the
Ufologists , " Financial Times, June 25 , 1988.
2. UFO Cover- Up ? Live was produced by Michael
Sel igman and distributed by Lexington Broadcast
Serv ice (LBS) . The results of the survey were
published by Walt Andrus , director of the Mutual
UFO Network , in the MUFON UFO Journal, No .
248 , December 1988.
3. Letter from Dr. Roger Wescott to Robert Bletchman ,
April 7, 1 988 .

14. Editor's Foreword xiil
4. El Colombiano, February 22 , 1989 , as reported in the
Shropshire Star, February 23, 1989 .
5. New Truth, Dunedin , New Zealand, October 17 , 1988.
The Reagan incident was first mentioned in Landslide:
T he Unmaking of the President, by Jane Mayer and
Doyle McManus (Collins , London 1988, page 402) .

15. 1
A British Perspective
1988
GRAHAM and MARK BIRDSALL
Graham and Mark Birdsall have been interested in
UFOs for many years , and in 1981 formed the York­
shire UFO Soc iety.
Despite its title , namely that of a group which op­
erates out of Britain 's largest county, YUFOS has
succeeded in establishing itself as one of Europe 's
leading organizations , with a flourishing member­
ship.
The Birdsall brothers both work in the printing
society and its bi-monthly journal , Quest Interna­
industry, and devote most of their spare time to the
tional (see Appendix) .
The illustrations are by Mark Birdsall .
Britain, w ith a population of nearly 60 million , has the
highest number of reports in proportion to the rest of the
·world . One of the reasons behind this extraordinary fact
is the number of dedicated researchers who actively pursue
the phenomenon on behalf of several organizations , one
of which is the Yorkshire UFO Society.
It is here in the United Kingdom that our active inves­
tigators have found ample evidence to convince us that we
are facing a genuine phenomenon that simply cannot be
dismissed by this or any other government as being merely
misidentifications or products of the m ind. Nor do we be­
l ieve that perfectly honest and respectable people, from a
police officer of twenty-five years ' service, through to the
average man and woman with able background and char-
1

16. 2 TH E U FO REPORT
acter, are always mistaken in their conviction that they
have encountered something that defies logic .
· When one speaks with police officers , who are generally
the most objective of people, and listens to their descrip­
tion of a UFO encounter that leaves them nonplussed and
clearly shocked by their experience , one begins to ques­
tion those in the UFO community and elsewhere who in­
sist that we are dealing at all times with simple
misidentifications of aircraft lights, meteorological phe­
nomena, astronomical events, or even some form of psy­
chic experience.
We have every confidence in our researchers' abil ity to
get at the truth , but some UFO groups continually mock
those very people who risk ridicule and sometimes their
livelihood for having the courage to describe their encoun­
ters with the unknown .
As an organization , we are careful to protect the identity
of all witnesses who claim to have confronted some form
of UFO. It is a sad reflection on ufology that some inves­
tigators clamor to involve what is, after all , a very skep­
tical media. In doing so, mostly for private gain , it is at
the expense of the witnesses , who suddenly find them­
selves thrown into the public limelight and wish they had
never agreed to disclosing their information in the first
place. There is intense rivalry, almost bordering on the
fringes of common decency, amongst many UFO groups
and self-made experts, to be the first to a UFO case, to
be the first to research it, to be the first to relate details to
the media, and to hell with the consequences.
British UFO research has often dealt with some of the most
important events to have occurred during the last four de­
cades. It has failed, however, to deliver much in the way of
real progress, simply because it has never got its act together.
The most notable success in the UFO field of literature
in recent years was Above T Secret, whose author Tim­
op
othy Good, a great supporter of our organization , set out
to redress the balance. It is no secret that Timothy con­
ducted much of his research practically isolated from the
major U . K . groups. The result was unquestionably the best
work ever written on this subject.
Timothy presented a calculated appraisal of the phe-

17. A British Perspective 1 988 3
nomenon , and in doing so proved that many governments
both here and abroad were and still are actively engaged
in suppressing known facts relating to their own research
from the publ ic . Using hitherto secret official documents ,
all relating to the UFO subject, he exposed the myth once
and for all that UFOs do not interest government agencies,
and therefore must be dismissed as being mere fanciful
tales of imagination .
Our organization has centered its activities on similar
areas of research . Here in Yorkshire , for example , is the
ultra-sensitive Distant Early Warning base of RAF Fyling­
dales . This complex can detect any item in orbit around
our planet , from I , 500 satellites to 15 ,000 items of space
debris. It is known , for example , that the base can detect
an object as small as a tea tray above Moscow, so one
would think it highly likely that if structured UFOs are
indeed entering or leaving Earth's atmosphere at will , they
would know about it . Perhaps not . At this , and other key
sensitive bases within these shores, personnel operate on
a " need-to-know" basis . At the top-secret listening post
at Menwith Hill , close to Harrogate in North Yorkshire ,
and operated by over I ,000 members of the U . S . National
Security Agency, personnel come under many security
classifications , none more sensitive than " S . C . I . " (Sen­
sitive Compartmented Information) .
During his research for the book Deep Black, author
William E. Burrows interviewed General Paul D . Wag­
oner, then head of the North American Aerospace Defense
Command. It is to here that all data from RAF Fyl ingdales
is sent. The General was invited to comment on the exis­
tence of a top-secret imaging satellite codenamed KH- 1 1 .
He refused point blank, and then went on to explain that
the KH- 1 1 project was more sensitive than the " Top Se­
cret" category, and came into the classification known as
S.C . I . Staff who work on such "black" projects (the Gen­
eral included) come under this classification . They are
given only enough access in order to do whatever is nec­
essary to complete their task .
On his own admission , General Wagoner is allowed to
know as much data about ' 'blacker' ' than top-secret proj­
ects as his immediate superiors will allow.• It follows

18. 4 THE U FO REPORT
therefore that officers and personnel within security agen­
cies are themselves allowed to know only so much . How
is the young RAF operator to know if the object seen over
Moscow is just a tea tray?
For as long as we can remember here in Britain , the
Ministry of Defense has taken the view that until such time
as UFOs constitute a threat to the defense of the realm ,
no active research is being undertaken by Her Majesty's
Armed Forces, or any other body. The MoD's official
clearing house for all UFO reports within Whitehall is
publicly known as AS2 (Secretariat, Air Staff 2) , where
public and official reports are purportedly routed, be they
from the police or civilian pilots, etc .
0155
Our organization made repeated requests to the MoD to
formally admit that UFO reports also made their way to
other agencies , but they persistently denied this. However,
it is a fact of life that occasionally some government de­
partments have a tendency to release information by ac­
cident that should have never been made public . Such a
' 'gaffe ' ' occurred when an official document came into
our hands which detailed a distribution list at the foot of
a report that examined a UFO incident over Bradford, in
Yorkshire, which had been telexed through to the MoD by
Leeds & Bradford regional airport .
No previous documents of this kind had ever included
such a distribution list . It was a major breakthrough , and
revealed at a stroke that the MoD had an intricate system
for analyzing and actioning UFO reports within the United
Kingdom and abroad . This official document listed the fol­
lowing organizations and departments that would have re­
ceived copies of the UFO report:
Sec (AS)2 [Secretariat , Air Staff 2]
AEW/GE [Airborne Early Warn ing/Ground Environ­
ment]
AF/OPS/ 1 / 1 1 [Air Force Operations]
DI55 [?]

19. A British Perspective 1 988 5
From this distribution list, we established definite links
between Britain 's Air Early Warning systems and NATO
(North Atlantic Treaty Organization) . We also established
that the North Atlantic Defense Ground Environment
(NADGE) and the United Kingdom Air Defense Ground
Environment (UKADGE) would be relayed data on the
report.
UKADGE is probably the most advanced air and
ground defense system operated if) the world today. The
network includes all Royal Navy and NATO surface ves­
sels , AWACS aircraft (Airborne Early Warning and Con­
trol System) , Groun d Radar bases around Britain,
including Staxton Wold in Yorkshire. The data that is re­
ceived from such sources enters RAF bases at Buchan,
Boulmer, Ash, and Neatishead, and is then channeled
through to the Air Defense Operational Center (ADOC) at
High Wycombe .
As UFO researchers , we recognized the fact that any
unknown target, be it a Soviet Backfire bomber or UFO,
must be pinpointed at some stage by this virtually im­
pregnable defensive system . Given these facts, could we
really believe the MoD has no interest in UFO reports?
And what of the other l isting as yet not identified­
DI55?
Whitehall is a vast infra-structure of various government
bodies dealing with a host of day-to-day tasks affecting the
Armed Forces of Great Britain and its allies . There must
be hundreds , if not thousands of telephone lines inter­
secting the corridors of this famous establishment.
Mick Hanson, a keen and dedicated researcher for our
organization , elected to solve the mystery of Dl55 using
guile , and a bit of cheek. He rang Whitehall and asked if
he could be put through to AS2, but found himself being
put through to another department . A few minutes later,
he was speaking to yet another department, again the
wrong one . He was beirig transferred all the time , but was
eventually put through to AS2 , although , we believe , on
an entirely different and internaf phone , thus raising no
question in the mind of the AS2 operator that he was
speaking with a civilian UFO researcher.

20. 6 TH E U FO REPORT
The AS2 operator was unable to help Mick with his
request for data relating to a particular case that had been
reported to him via South Yorkshire police in his capacity
as co-ordinator of research in that area. He was put back
to the internal switchboard , and requested that the opera­
tor put him in touch with any Whitehall department that
might assist him with his research. The operator told him
that if AS2 could not help, perhaps Dl55 may be more
forthcoming! Mick had a very fruitful conversation with a
gentleman at this previously unknown department that
dealt directly with U . K . UFO reports.
Further research concluded that the Ministry of Defense
had been caught with their pants down . Letters demanded
an explanation as to why the existence of Dl55 had been
kept hidden from researchers , but the MoD were very re­
luctant to admit or deny anything . We continued to delve
into this deception and with the assistance of Timothy
Good , finally unwrapped the most secret infonnation of
all .
RAF Rud loe Manor
As long ago as 1979 our organization knew the precise
location of a base, located discreetly in the beautiful Wilt­
shire countryside, that had some real connection with UFO
research . We knew from our source that the British Anned
Forces, in co-operation with the National Security Agency,
were heavily involved in something that they wished to
keep secret.
This base was RAF Rudloe Manor, and without Timo­
thy 's active research , combined with infonnation supplied
by a source known only to him , and our own co-operation
in revealing what we knew at the time , this base would
still be operating covertly.
Several communications had been made between DI55
and Rudloe Manor, all connected with UFO sighting re­
ports. And in Above T Secret, Timothy reveals that the
op
Flying Complaints Flight , now based at Rudloe Manor,
incorporates a UFO investigation unit, staffed by person­
nel of the Provost & Security Services .

21. A British Perspective 1 988 7
The Ministry of Defense denies that Rudloe Manor is
involved in UFO investigations , however. According to
them , one civil servant alone is employed full time at
Whitehall , who amongst other duties studies UFO reports .
Yet the MoD confirmed to Timothy that DI55 was also
involved in investigations . 2 It is therefore untrue to state
that only one civil servant is actively engaged in investi­
gating and disseminating the bulk of UFO reports that are
dispatched via Whitehall . We believe that task is too great
for one individual , and are convinced we have merely
scratched at the surface of our government's real interest
in the phenomenon.
White other British groups involved in the UFO subject
choose to research mundane reports , delve over past en­
counters stretching back for decades , dabble in the psychic
and bizarre , our organization chose to adopt the current
American UFO researchers' attitude; namely, believe your
government is withholding UFO data , and strive to get at
the real truth surrounding what can only be described as
a cover-up of enormous proportions .
The 1988 Flap
With all this new and important data at hand , 1988 offered
British UFO researchers a great opportunity to study and
act upon the biggest wave of sightings to have occurred
within this country for a decade .
We will now present some of the most fascinating UFO
case files researched by our team of investigators , who
knew full well that our current government would be
keenly following developments at every stage , recognizing
they were no longer dealing with a more placid UFO re­
search group . The MoD also appreciated that our research
was broadening to cover Stealth technology, the Strategic
Defense Initiative program (SDI) , and hugely secretive
sorties made by Remotely Piloted Vehicles (RPVs) . Per­
haps we had become a threat to those within the Defense
lobby who wished to perpetuate the official government
stance that they had no interest in UFO research .
Investigators of the UFO phenomenon have no sixth

22. 8 THE U FO R EPORT
sense in determining just when a major "flap" will occur,
but when one begins to receive reports from around the
country, and on a daily basis, culminating in twenty-two
independent sightings on one night alone, there is ample
justification for bel ieving that something peculiar is going
on , or is about to happen .
During January 1988 , this organization received eighty­
nine accounts of UFO activity, only four of which origi­
nated with the media. As a result, we had a mass of
information about the nature of the sightings . But could
we draw any conclusions?
January 2
Just before midnight on Saturday January 2 , a sixteen­
year-old girl with a keen interest in astronomy thought she
saw a UFO above London . When informed of the sight­
ing, police officers based at Kensington rushed outdoors
to catch a glimpse of the object. They did see it, and were
convinced it was some sort of UFO. The media reported
the sighting , and· a headline proclaimed "Jellyfish over
London . ' ' (Apparently when asked what the UFO looked
like, one of the officers made the unfortunate ' 'jellyfish ' '
remark . )
I t later transpired that the ' ' UFO' ' was nothing more
than a brightly shining planet, often misidentified by in­
experienced observers as a genuine UFO. It is a fact that,
while we all have a high regard for the abil ities of police
officers , very few receive basic astronomy lessons while
in the service!
Ray Barron , 200 miles away, had just parked his vehicle
in the driveway of his home , situated in a quiet suburb of
Leeds , England 's third largest city, and commercial "cap­
ital " of Yorkshire . It was a chilly dark night, and the re­
tired construction engineer was in a hurry to reach the
warmth of indoors . What made him stop and stare into
the starlit sky for the next two minutes takes us to the heart
of a typical UFO report, which our researchers are con­
stantly attempting to explain .
Mr. Barron had caught sight of an object, later de­
scribed as plate-shaped and colored orange and yellow,

23. A British Perspective 1 988 9
which moved across the Leeds skyline, spinning or roll ing
as it did so . It appeared to descend a fraction , and it was
then that he noticed some kind of smoke or vapor being
emitted from the rear. Mr. Barron takes up the story: "The
light was brilliant and quite large , practically half the size
of a full moon. As I watched in the freezing cold, the
damn thing ' switched off' like a light bulb . I peered up­
ward and tried to find out where it had gone, but was
absolutely shattered to see the spiraling smoke continue
its journey ! Yet it was coming out of nothing . . .''
Fortunately, the great advantage of having a network of
researchers spread around the country is that we may be
able to offer further data that could correlate a sighting
with another report that has reached us from a completely
independent source. This is exactly what occurred on this
particular evening.
Mr. Barron had left his vehicle at precisely 7:50 that
evening. Several miles away, in the small market town of
Dews bury, West Yorkshire , Jane Marsden and her friend
Vivienne 0' Donnell were sitting in a parked vehicle, en­
gaged in conversation . Suddenly, at 7 : 50 p.m. they no­
ticed through the offside window of the vehicle a large ball
of light passing through the night sky. Their initial reac­
tion was one of dread , for they had no doubt an aircraft
was possibly on fi re and in serious trouble . However, if it
were an aircraft, it was taking an awfully long time to
move across the sky. Both ladies had now centered their
attention on the object , and were oblivious to people and
traffic passing close-by.
The object was now brightly lit, orange and yellow col­
ors could be seen , and the definite shape of a red tail could
be seen behind the main body. Both women were per­
plexed and disturbed . Jane later told us: ' ' Behind the or­
ange ' bal l ' was a pale blue flame, then came a long slender
red tail . It was moving very, very slowly indeed."
1.vo concise reports , covered in depth by our research­
ers-but were both objects one and the same? If the con­
sensus is that they were , then what on earth could it have
been? It has been estimated that only ten percent of UFO
witnesses actually bother to report their experiences to the
media , pol ice or local UFO groups. If we had received a

24. 10 THE U FO REPORT
further twenty-seven reports from various people and lo­
calities, our researchers might well have been better placed
to form an opinion . But with only three witnesses to an
unusual event , seen over an area containing at least one
and a half million people , what chance did we have? And
yet . . .
Our investigators were no sooner attempting to resolve
the events of that night (by the common practice of con­
tacting the police , civil and military airfields , etc . ) when
we were further confounded by a reported UFO sighting
that had taken place at nine o 'clock that same evening in
Leeds .
Mr. Ted Johnson lives close to the north-west of the
city. He told us of an object that had flown extremely low
as it followed the contours of a nearby valley. Yet this was
no aircraft, but a large orange- and yellow-colored ball of
light . Behind it came a vast stream of grayish smoke , and
long after the object had disappeared to the north , this
vapor remained visible . Ted is adamant that the time was
9 : 00 p . m . , but he had no idea , of course, that three other
people in the region that night had also seen some kind of
strange aerial object.
During the next twenty-four hours we sought out data
from our team of investigators and, as luck would have
it, a report came back from the Worksop, Nottingham­
shire , area . 1vo people, both of whom wish to remain
anonymous , were close to their village on the outskirts of
Worksop at approximately 7:30 p. m . Apparently, two odd­
shaped "aircraft" had flown in and around the area for
several minutes . The observers noticed some unusual as­
pects regarding shape: very thin in terms of depth , both
triangular, and each with prominent fins. (See Fig. l : 1 . )
Were these aircraft or UFOs? The immediate task facing
any investigation in an event like this is to discover if there
are any known military exercises going on in the area of
the sightings. As it transpired , there were none-officially.
Yet we have recorded dozens of instances when mil itary
maneuvers have taken place , and have invited the MoD to
confirm this, yet they usually plead ignorance .
Our organization has made a thorough study of the de­
velopment of so-called "Stealth" aircraft. It is believed

25. A British Perspective 1 988 11
Figure 1:1. Worksop, January 2, 1988.
that the F- 117 A Stealth fighter has flown from bases in the
U.K. for some years , even before being officially recog­
nized by the U . S . Department of Defense as even existing ,
in November 198 8 . However, there is no hard evidence
that Stealth craft have flown in this country. To claim that
some UFO reports can be attributed to these top-secret
aircraft is foolhardy, unless one is in possession of the
facts . It is more reasonable to look at conventional aircraft
that operate in pairs , have highly unusual designs , and fly
in a manner which is calculated to confuse . Such an air­
craft is the American A-10 Thunderbolt , many of which
are based in Britain . These usually operate in pairs , fly at
very low altitudes, and sometimes use motorway traffic as
''targets' ' on operational sorties. They will duck and weave
among hilltops and trees , and at night such maneuvers will
always appear peculiar to the unaccustomed observer.
January 3
Just as we were discussing the merits of whether or not to
place this Worksop sighting in the ' 'possible aircraft' ' cat­
egory, came news of a very disturbing encounter in Hum­
berside (formerly East Yorkshire) . It was 5:00 p . m. ,
Sunday January 3 , almost twenty-four hours after the
events in Leeds.
Mrs . Annette McDonaldson and her young daughter had
been visiting friends in Grimsby, a fishing port on the east
coast, and had just set off to return home to York . Trav­
eling on a road just outside the town , the night had closed

26. 12 T H E U FO REPORT
in , but traffic was light and there appeared to be no obsta­
cles to delay their journey.
The bright lights which appeared in their car's rear-view
mirror suggested to Annette that some large lorry was fast
approaching , and she slowed down in order to let it pass .
Despite relaxing her foot on the accelerator the distance
between her and the lights remained the same . She asked
her daughter to look behind and see what this lorry driver
was playing at .
Clare McDonaldson arched round and focused her eyes
on the lights, some 100 yards behind . After a while , she
began to make out the surface of the road, and was shocked
to realize that the lights were actually airborne, just above
the ground . She could see no shape whatsoever behind the
bright glare . During the course of the next three minutes ,
the lights bore steadily closer to the car, but suddenly van­
ished in an instant .
By now, confused and frightened. Annette instructed
her daughter to keep a look-out for the lights. She did not
have long to wait before a startled cry told her the lights
were directly above their car. Panic set in , and Annette
slammed her foot down hard on the accelerator, and in a
short while was beyond the legal speed limit. Two more
minutes passed by, and then to her horror she saw the two
bright lights ahead of her and, above the road . Whatever
lay behind the lights was cautious enough not to allow the
car to smash headlong into it. It kept an even distance
between them for a number of miles . Almost as suddenly
as it had appeared , the lights shot straight up into the sky
at a steep angle and disappeared . [The McDonaldsons were
luckier than the Knowles family, whose car was picked up
and dropped back on the road by a UFO in Western Aus­
tralia only a few weeks later. See Chapter 8-Editor. ]
The mother and daughter had been left in a shocked
state . Their experience had so affected them that as soon
as they had an opportunity, the police were called . Good
co-operation between our organization and several pol ice
authorities ensured that we were immediately given the
relevant information. Despite this early opportunity to quiz
the witnesses , we were later no nearer to finding any sen­
sible answer as to the probable cause of the incident . Per-

27. A British Perspective 1 988 13
haps some lunatic at the controls of a helicopter had de­
cided to stage a terrifying low-level ' 'chase' ' with a pass­
ing motorist? But the two women were adamant: if it had
been a helicopter, they would have said so.
As if to reinforce our growing unease that we could be
witnessing the start of a major ' ' flap, ' ' we received a call
from Pauline Russell, who had witnessed something rather
odd near her home in South Leeds at nine-thirty that same
Sunday evening. She had been out walking when she was
attracted by a· brightly lit "egg-shaped object" moving
slowly across the sky. Its design was so unusual that she
stood still in order to try and fathom what it could be .
There were no aircraft navigation lights visible on the ob­
ject, but suddenly a real aircraft displaying its l ights came
into v iew from the opposite direction .
The aircraft and object were moving rapidly toward one
another. Whatever the UFO was , it moved across the sky
in a staggered motion , almost zig-zagging . The conven-=
tional aircraft came within a whisker of colliding with the
unknown light, and passed just to the right-hand side of
it. Pauline later admitted : ' 'The object was unlike any­
thing I have ever seen in my life, and anyone on that air­
craft must have seen it . ' ' Needless to say, no one within
aviation circles reported seeing anything.
January 4
This day was to prove our busiest of the whole year. In a
period of just six hours and fifteen minutes, we received
twenty-two reports of UFO phenomena from around the
region . The events of that day are recorded by our inves­
tigator during the course of that week and beyond .
5:25 p.m. A married couple reported a massive white
sphere moving just above the clouds over Harewood , near
Harrogate, North Yorkshire .
7:00 p.m. A woman reported seeing a glowing white ob­
ject stationary over South Leeds at a height of I ,000 ft. The
object slowly moved south after some two minutes . She
could see several dark points or patches on the object .
7:20 p.m. A gentleman in the small Yorkshire village of

28. 14 T H E U FO REPORT.
Mosbrough , near Rotherham , rang to say he was observ­
ing a cluster of brilliant red- and yellow-colored lights at
a height of between 500 and 1000 ft. Local investigator
Allan Petres hurried to the scene, and confirmed the sight­
ing .
7:30 p.m. Mr. J . S. Rhodes, an experienced ex-RAF of­
ficer, observed a strange-looking "aircraft" without wings
over Scholes , West Yorkshire. It glowed orange in color,
but had five darkened portholes running the entire length .
He also noticed two aircraft, possibly military, near the
scene . There was sound coming from them, but not from
the mysterious shape which was quickly leaving the area.
7:45 p.m. Two young women were leaving their work
premises in the center of Derby when they were astonished
to see three brilliantly lit white spheres directly overhead.
There was absolutely no sound or movement, but as
quickly as they appeared , they disappeared .
7:46 p.m. Two young men parked in the center of
Chellaston , Derbyshire , observed a large circular shaped
object that looked to be made of glass , "sewn together by
threads. "
8:00 p.m. Mr. Bill Moran was making his way home
to Kimberworth , Rotherham, when he saw an · intensely lit
bright ball of light moving extremely slowly toward the
north-west at very low altitude . It had two distinct colors,
yellow and orange .
8:02 p.m. Mr. Thomas Jordan and his son were puz­
zled to see a brilliant yellow sphere move slowly due north
above their home in Roundhay, an attractive suburb of
Leeds . Not unfamiliar with aircraft, neither could offer
any explanation for what they saw. Surprisingly, three air­
craft in formation appeared to head after this object shortly
afterward . Both men are very keen amateur astronomers
and have always been skeptical about so-called UFOs , yet
despite this they were sufficiently impressed by their ex­
perience to contact our organization .
8:15 p.m. A gentleman from York, North Yorkshire ,
reported seeing an object which to him resembled the old
V-I flying bomb . It flew at very low altitude and emitted
sparks , debris, and flames .
8:15 p.m. An entire family was watching television in

29. A British Perspective 1 988 15
their home at Ki rkhamgate, near Wakefield, West York­
shire . Through the downstairs window they saw a large
luminous green ball of light traveling slowly across the
sky. They rushed to the window, then made their way
outside to get a better look . The object was releasing some
kind of vapor behind it which was clearly visible due to
the bright light coming from the object itself . It finally
disappeared out of sight beyond some hills, but apparently
following the course of the nearby M I motorway.
8:15 p.m. A woman in York was outside her home,
about to call for her children who had been playing in the
street, when she saw a brilliant yellow and orange sphere
of light move slowly across the night sky heading west.
8:17 p.m. Mr. Lee was traveling along the dual car­
riageway of the A38 near Shelton Lock, Derbyshire , when
he suddenly became aware of a large ''lemon-shaped ' '
object moving westward in the sky. It was totally white in
color, but surrounding it there appeared to be a blue- or
green-glowing halo . It was moving extremely quickly, and
at one point Mr. Lee thought the object was set to crash
into the ground .
8:45 p.m. 1vo men traveling over the moor-tops at
Blubberhouses , North Yorkshire , heading east, saw an ob­
ject em itting sparks and debris at low altitude , and were
convinced it was going to crash into a hillside . Both men
thought the object resembled a V - 1 rocket.
8:50 p.m. Several witnesses reported seeing two ex­
tremely large , glowing white spheres that flew side-by-side
near Coll ingham , West Yorkshire . At one poi nt, the
spheres descended quite close to the vehicle in which they
were traveling , causing one or two unprintable expletives!
One man said the effect was like putting a brightly lit lorry
in the sky.
8:50 p.m. Mr. Jones of Guiseley, West Yorkshire , ob­
served a thin green ''laser beam ' ' that '• shot from horizon
to horizon in a matter of seconds . ' ' Being ex-RAF , he felt
suitably qual ified to suggest that some sort of test was
being carried out in the upper atmosphere , but of what
and by whom remains unanswered .
8:50 p.m. Mr. Scotsman from Selby, North Yorkshire ,
reported seeing a thin pencil-shaped object above the area .

30. 16 THE U FO REPORT
Figure 1:2.
It displayed several constant blue lights , and a number of
red ones along its side .
9:10 p.m. Gordon Blake, an ex-RAF resident of Leeds,
had been outdoors when suddenly a large, glowing, orange
light appeared in the north-east sky. His immediate reac­
tion was to study the light more closely, because, in his
words, " it did not conform to any aircraft navigation
lighting system that I had been used to . " A few seconds
elapsed and then the object drew closer, finally enabling
him to see that it was truly gigantic , and in his estimation,
some 400 ft in diameter. It had several "layers " and at
least twelve lights flashed in or around it in formation .
Mr. Blake is very familiar with air-refueling exercises that
can often be mistaken for something more exotic by ground
observers , but he dismisses the theory for this particular
sighting. (Fig . 1 :2.)
9:10 p.m. Mrs. Robson and her friend had never seen
a UFO before , but now they are not so sure . Close to their
home in Morley, on the outskirts of south Leeds , they saw
a " rocket-shaped object" move across the sky, then

31. A British Perspective 1 988 17
downward at high speed . Blue- and red-colored flames
poured from the rear. Without any prompting from us ,
they compared the object with an ''old V-I rocket . ' '
9:15 p.m. Close to the AI near Wetherby, West York­
shire, a married couple reported seeing "a large white
light with several smaller lights within . ' '
9:16 p.m. Two residents at Harrogate, North York­
shire, were disturbed to spot a large , glowing , orange­
colored object high above the town, practically stationary.
It did move slowly toward their position , however, and
they could make out three separate points of orange- and
yellow-colored l ights within the main body, almost in
cluster formation .
11:30 p.m. An elderly couple from Dewsbury, West
Yorkshire, were about to retire for the night . As they were
about to close the bedroom curtains , they were aston ished
to see a large brightly l it object , like a dinner plate , move
back and forth across the sky. They managed to open the
window to get a clearer look and could hear a loud
"swishing noise , " presumably from the object itself. They
watched , fascinated , for as long as ten m inutes , before the
l ight, which had given them the best aerial display since
Guy Fawkes' night, simply ''switched off. ' ' Perhaps this
was a means of suggesting to dozens, if not hundreds of
people who had witnessed the n ight-time events : "That's
all folks ! "
This ended any further reports that night, but over the
course of the next twenty-five days , fifty-six more UFO
encounters would be placed in our computer files, leaving
each and every one of us involved quite astonished .
January
'
11
One of the most intriguing encounters occurred in daylight
on Monday, January 1 1 · at 10 : 30 a . m . It happened on the
B6265 Grassington to Skipton road , North Yorkshire . This
beautiful part of the English countryside has possibly seen
more reports of alleged UFO sightings than any other re­
gion of the United Kingdom over the past twenty years .
Steep hills and fells overlook the area for miles around,
and one needs only to progress a few yards in any direc-

32. 18 THE U FO REPORT
tion to become virtually isolated from civilization . We
could write a whole chapter on fascinating reports that
have emerged over the years from this one spot alone.
Tony Dodd is head of YUFOS Research and Investiga­
tions . For twenty-five exemplary years, he served in the
North Yorkshire Police Force before retiring in 1988 .
Based at Skipton , then later in Grassington , Tony has a
high regard for the people in the area. His deep-seated
interest in the subject began in the late 1970s , when he
personally witnessed a number of, strange aerial craft at
close proximity (one of which is described in detail in
Above T Secret3) . These encounters , also witnessed by
op
severa� colleagues in the force , convinced him we were
dealing with a " nuts-and-bolts" phenomenon .
For the witnesses' own protection, we have used pseu­
donyms in this case, which was investigated by Tony Todd ,
but their backgrounds and qual ifications are genuine.
Dr. P. T. Watkins (Ph . D . Oxon . ) is a retired professor
of organic chemistry, aged sixty-five . His wife , Mrs. A .
D . Watkins (M . A . ) , i s sixty-seven years of age . They were
travel ing toward Skipton by car and were approximately
one mile on from the Grassington side of the Craven Heifer
public house , when an object suddenly appeared ahead of
them, resembling a flat ' 'hovercraft' ' or disk. It was de­
scending all the time from a height of 200 to 300 ft, and
was 100 to 200 yards away, .approximateiy 20 ft in diam­
eter, and moving between 0 and 50 m . p . h . Their imme­
diate reaction to the pulsing object was to believe some
kind of partially deflated meteorological balloon was about
to come down. It was traveling in a south-west to north­
east direction .· Mr. Watkins described the object , and what
happened next: ' 'The object seemed to have a flange or
rim which undulated as it came down. It had appeared in
front of us very suddenly, as though it had made a very
rapid vertical descent . It then changed direction to move
parallel with the ground . The front edge of the object ap­
peared to be moving toward us initially as it passed in
front of our car. "
Its edges were sharpened , and the color appeared
silvery-pink. It veered to the left of the vehicle, as if to
make a landing, but then disappeared from view. Tony

33. A British Perspective 1 988 19
carried out a meticulous search of the area in question,
known as the Crookrise Plantation , but found no evidence
of anything untoward . He questioned the farmer who
owned the land, and spoke with several workers on the
plantation , but no one could add anything which might
have produced an explanation . Checks with the regional
police force and MoD were made , but again , Tony 's in­
vestigations drew a blank. The witnesses are highly re­
spected members of the local community, and their
sighting must be considered a genuine Close Encounter of
the First Kind .
That same eveni ng , a YUFOS team in the Kimberworth
valley area of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, identified sev­
eral unknown " targets " at 8 :05 p . m . , 8 : 30 p . m . and 9:05
p . m . , Several photographs of the phenomena were taken
using an Olympus camera and 1600 ASA film . When de­
veloped and analyzed , these showed an unusual orange­
colored ball of l ight.
There was another sighting on January 1 1 , reported from
southern England . According to the Camberley News, Mr.
Fred Clarke and his stepson Darryl Robson, were driving
to work at 6 : 30 a . m . when they saw strange bright lights
in the sky. On reaching Bentley, Hampshire, Mr. Clarke
stopped to go to a shop . ' 'I looked up and there was a
massive object movi ng slowly toward Farnham, ' ' he said.
' 'It was shaped l ike a fi fty pence piece and was larger than
an airplane . ' ' The object had a light at opposite ends and
was making a droning noise . 4
January 1 6
A t 12:45 a . m . o n January 16 , Police Sgt . Thompson and a
colleague, along with numerous members of the public ,
watched a glowing red ball of l ight hang motionless above
the city of Sheffield , South Yorkshire . Such was their con­
cern that they officially notified headquarters, and ques­
tions were asked among regional military establishments
if an exercise flare was being used , but the authorities
denied any knowledge of the sighting . Both police officers
said that the object remained hovering for at least seven
minutes , until it finally vanished in an instant .

34. 20 THE U FO REPORT
January 22
More and more reports were coming in from the region ,
where the phenomenon appeared to be concentrating . A
highly interesting case occurred near Kettlewell , North
Yorkshire, at 9:00 p . m . on January 22 . Mr. and Mrs . Alan
Davidson had been driving north when they encountered
a large triangular-shaped object directly in front of their
car, moving left to right across the windscreen. In the few
seconds available to them before it disappeared, they both
saw that the object had a bank of lights on its base, with
several more across the center. A number of these were
flashing on and off across the whole length of the 60 ft­
plus structure . It was totally noiseless so far as they could
ascertain .
The couple , quite understandably, had been badly
shaken by this experience. They negotiated a difficult bend,
then stopped the car and walked back to see if they could
catch sight of the strange craft, but a search of the sur­
rounding fields and sky proved fruitless.
January 23
Ivan Spenceley is a man of impeccable background, well
educated and informed . When he fi rst gave details of his
extraordinary sighting, which took place near Chester­
field, Derbyshire , at 12 :45 a . m . on January 23 , we could
not fail but to be impressed by his attempts to rationalize
his UFO encounter. During 1988, we had worked closely
with researchers at Central Television who wanted to pre­
sent a live UFO debate on the national network. We pro­
vided some material , and more importantly, witnesses who
we felt would do the subject justice , such as Ivan .
He was out walking his dog late at night close to wood­
land, a task he had performed regularly for a number of
years, when he suddenly became aware of a ' 'massive' '
oval object in the sky. On closer inspection, he could make
out straight and curved lines around it. There were a series
of red and blue lights constantly shining , but not in a
position where you would expect them to be on an aircraft ,
or airship. From what appeared to be tinted windows, light
was emanating continuously. The object was very low in

35. A British Perspective 1 988 21
Figure 1:3. Object seen by Ivan Spenceley, January 23 , 1988.
the sky and moved at a snail 's pace away from him, with­
out any sound. (See Fig . 1 : 3 . )
February 3
Reports continued to pour into the organization during
February, and we have selected a few that typify the di­
versity of the phenomenon and the backgrounds of our
witnesses . On Wednesday evening, around six-thirty on
February 3, an incident took place on the main Harrogate
to Skipton road . This often narrow and winding route car­
ried a coachload of forty pupils and staff who were shocked
to witness an oval-shaped ball of yellow light travel along­
side their vehicle . After descending to their level very sud­
denly, the object "paced" the vehicle for a few seconds ,
moved for a while slightly ahead of it , then sped off at an
estimated speed of 120 m . p . h . toward the village of Blub­
berhouses . 1venty seconds later, a similar object came
from the rear of the coach and carried out almost the same
maneuver.
February 8
A 23-year-old housewife from Sheffield had opened her
attic window to allow in some fresh air, when she saw a
brightly lit object descend through thin cloud and hover
approximately 100 ft above the ground. It was illuminated

36. 22 THE U FO REPORT
Figure 1 :4. Sheffield, February 8, 1988.
by an array of beautiful , colored, dazzling lights . These
were peppermint green , ice-blue, and bright red . At the
object's base she could see a massive circular white light.
For a staggering twenty mi nutes, this young woman
watched in awe as the rooftop-shaped craft remained still
and quiet. A streetlight nearby dimmed during this time,
and her bedroom light would flicker on and off. The object
then moved away very slowly, close to housetops and trees,
before quickly disappearing at an estimated speed of 100/
120 m . p . h . (Fig . 1 :4 . )
Approximately one hour before this particular sighting ,
two independent reports from the Rotherham area cited a
cone-shaped object displaying orange and white lights
moving slowly over the town , which was only several miles
from the housewife's location .
February 15
At 12: 15 a.m. on February 15 , in Rothefham yet again, a
father and son were returning home from an enjoyable
evening out with friends. The son was attracted to a cluster
of bright lights which appeared to be hovering high in the
sky ahead of them . There was little traffic around them at
the time, and the night sky was clear and the weather
crisp. James Adams, fifteen years old, had not mentioned
the lights to his father at the time , but when he saw the
object descend over an electricity pylon approximately a
quarter of a mile away, he frantically drew his father's
attention toward it . " My dad was amazed, '.' James said

37. A British Perspective 1 988 23
later. ' ' We could see this disk-shaped thing with a large
dome on top and flashing lights around the base. ' ' These
lights were colored red, green , yellow, orange , and white .
The l ight on top was brill iant wh ite . ' ' After twenty sec­
onds , " added James , " it moved away like a bullet , but
we never heard a sound . ' '
February 16
On February 16 two separate pol ice patrols observed a
UFO over Wal sall , West Midlands . According to the Bir­
mingham Daily News, Sgt . Stuart Griffiths and PC Mi­
chael Powel l were on a panda car patrol when an
extraordinary sight brought them to a halt .
" In the sky up in front of us was a very bright l ight, "
reported Sgt . Griffiths. " I cannot be sure but the object
could have been oblong in shape . It had green and red
lights which were either flashing on and off or spinn ing
around . " The officers got out of their car and were amazed
to find that the craft was noiseless . ' 'We watched it for
about two minutes and then it suddenly disappeared to­
ward the south-east . It seemed to move much faster than
an airplane , ' ' said Sgt . Gri ffiths . 5
Fifteen minutes earlier, at 9 : 1 5 p . m . , Inspector Roger
Clarke and Sgt . Steve Godwin sighted a UFO in Darlaston
when they were on patrol . ' 'We were driving toward Cald­
more when we saw a massive object in the sky, " Sgt .
Godwin reported to the Birmingham Evening Mail. ' ' There
were loads of l ights but it was far bigger than any aircraft
I 've seen . " 6
On the same evening , Mrs . Margaret Brannan and her
two children , together with two other young witnesses ,
had an extraordinary sighting near Redditch , Worcester­
shire . ' ' My brain was telling me it must be a plane , ' ' said
Mrs . Brannan , "but as I looked I realized that it couldn 't
be . It was the most fantastic thing I have ever seen . I still
can 't get over it , " she told the Redditch W eekly Mail. "It
was like a floating city in the sky, and the most vivid
memory I have is of the tiny windows on it, which made
it look like a block of flats . ' ' 7

38. 24 THE UFO REPORT
�;,.;;::"'�..... ·r.--��f;):tt:}�·-�.·:. ·:}f->��
;:�;.-;,
. .- ·;_<:::---·.
· :;_;<'��4ilJ�. .-:t.,·•:;t
/ ./
:
Figure 1 :5. Doncaster, January 12 , 1988.
February 24
Just nine days later, a Hull taxi-driver spotted a reddish­
orange, spinning-top-shaped object near the Leeds Road
roundabout at 4 :00 in the morning . He said it was about
the size of a hot-air balloon and made several changes of
direction . He was sufficiently impressed to call the police
immediately.
We received many reports like this during February.
They came from policemen, security guards , schoolchil­
dren and their teachers , housewives , and various members
of the public . Each case was fully evaluated and judged
on its merit, and where possible, comparisons were drawn
with other cases that may have been somehow connected .
March 10
Such a connection appears to have occurred on March 10.
Ian Smith, a local UFO investigator for the organization
in South Yorkshire , subm itted a report of his sighting

39. A British Perspective 1 988 25
which appeared to tie in with another U F O report sent to
us on March 23 , but relating to that night of the lOth . So
we had totally independent witnesses , who had no prior
knowledge of each other's sighting in Rotherham and Os­
sett , West Yorkshire .
Ian was driving back from Sheffield with a colleague
and fellow Society member, Paul Garner. Close to the
junction of the A629 , Paul drew Ian 's attention to an elon­
gated object which appeared to be internally lit by some
form of orange light. The entire length of the object , which
was low in the sky, approximately 400 ft above the ground,
appeared to pulsate . Both men could see distinct black
lines running vertically around the object giving the im­
pression that they may have been some type of windows .
The experienced investigators could hardly believe their
luck-here was a possible U FO staring at them in the face !
They had , of course, immediately stopped the veh icle and
taken precise notes of every aspect of the object 's size,
color, and shape. At precisely 8 : 55 p . m . the object dis­
appeared from view traveling in a northerly direction .
1venty minutes later, over the town of Ossett , Dianne
Wild, aged twenty-eight , was closing her kitchen curtains
when she noticed a brilliant yellow l ight approaching from
the south . Although indoors , and with both windows and
doors closed , she could hear a distinct humming noise.
The object approached steadily, and , somewhat taken
aback at the growing size and shape of the object, Dianne
remained rooted to the spot . " It was shaped l ike a cross ,
and at least the size of a football field , ' ' she said . ' ' I saw
a red flashing light toward the rear, and yellow lights ran
along its side . I could clearly see gray and black stripes
on the underside as it passed overhead , sl ightly to the left
of our house . I have never seen anyth ing as big or as clear
in the sky before . ' '
Further Activity
The center of UFO activity then appeared to be concen­
trated in the Midlan�s . Local newspapers , including the
Chase Post in Cannock, highlighted the events , reporting
no less than ninety separate UFO sightings . Amongst these

40. 26 TH E U FO REPORT
were twenty-six over Rugeley, Bumtwood , Boney Hay,
Lichfield, Brownhills , Willenhall and Walsall. In just two
hours, sixteen sightings came from Rugeley alone.
A frightened 12-year-old-girl and two friends saw a
huge, oval-shaped craft hovering at 600 ft, covered with
green , blue , and white lights which moved in and out of
the object . Four police officers in separate towns also spot­
ted the amazing craft . P. cigar-shaped craft hovered over
..
a Lichfield church one early morning at eight o'clock. Mr.
Edwards of Friday Acre said : ' 'It was huge and had a
mushroom-shaped top which came down to a long, cigar
shape underneath . " Other witnesses reported seeing a
similar object rise from behind trees . 8
Another sighting was reported by an RAF jet engine
techn ician with ten years' service . He spotted an unusual
craft in Boney Hay, and said he had never seen anything
like it. He claimed to have seen a ' 'brilliant white, smoke
ring at nine o'clock in the morning. " Above it was an
object with a small rotating blue light. It hovered at the
spot for a full minute before moving off at great speed,
leaving what looked like a vapor trail coming from the
object's left side . Within a minute or two it had disap­
peared completely. A radar operator was reported to have
d isclosed to the Chase Post newspaper that he could con­
finn something unusual had been seen , but could not go
into detail . 9
When ordinary men and women encounter UFO phe­
nomena , and are brave enough to speak about their expe­
rience with investigators or the media, their description of
events offers a valuable insight into this hugely complex,
but fascinating subject.
Apri/ 10
On Sunday night , April 10, 1988 , David White , head of
Artwork and Illustration Studios in Oxford , was driving
home after a visit to Blewbury. In the sky a red glow
followed his car traveling several hundred feet above .
When he stopped at a crossroads, the light stopped too .
He wound down his window but could hear no sound from
the mystery object .

41. A British Perspective 1 988 27
" I thought I was going crazy. Just for my own peace of
mind, I drove back across the Downs to see if I could
get closer to it. I drove off toward Wantage and it moved
with me again. I kept flashing my car lights and when
I stopped again , it stopped and was just sitting station­
ary above me.
"I went through Wantage and I could still see it as I
drove toward Faringdon . Then , two or three m iles on
that road, it disappeared . Just l ike that! I first saw the
object at precisely 11 : 00 p . m . When it vanished-it was
1 1 :41 p . m . -1 looked at the car clock. It could not have
been a plane as no plane could just stop still in the sky
without a sound.
"The second time I stopped , I could see that it was
a red light and at the center it was white . There was no
shape to it and as I kept looking at it, it was zig-zagging
up and down. I knew everyone would say I was potty,
or that some RAF pilot was having a damn good laugh
at my expense , but it was really weird and I have never
seen anythi ng like it. ' '
Despite calls to the police and local RAF bases , no one
could satisfy Mr. White with a rational explanation .
Another equally interesting account of a UFO encounter
during April came from Cwmdare, South Wales . John Rees
was out walking his dog when something caught his atten­
tion in the sky. He saw a luminous object moving along a
spiral path in a north-easterly direction toward Neath:
' 'I would not have bothered to take a second look if it
had not been for the spiral path and the intense lumi­
nosity-and two downwardly directed parallel beams . It
had a cylindrical shape , like a lager can . The clouds
were pitch black on the horizon , but the moon was above
the cloud line and it was very bright. Fortunately, the
object stayed above the cloud line and I was able to keep
it in view. It moved toward Neath and then back, in a
southerly direction toward the Meardy mountain . I was
watching it for about three-quarters of an hour.
' ' I usually meet a teacher when I am out walking the

42. 28 THE U FO REPORT
dog between 10: 15 p . m . and 11 :00 p . m . I was hoping
he would come by, so I could have someone to verify
the sighting , but unfortunately he did not tum up this
time. I was shocked I can tell you . I have never seen
anything like that before. I thought it was a plane out
of control at first . Planes do fly over the Cynon valley
at that time of night . I have never believed in UFOs but
there is no doubt that I saw something out of the ordi­
nary. There was no noise from it. "
John is closely linked with local operatic groups in the
area and is warden of Cwmdare Youth Club . A respected
member of the local commun ity, he is foreman at Enghart
Fans, a large industrial firm where several workers have
remarked " Beam me up Dr. John ! " 10 He has nevertheless
stuck to his account through all the ridicule and is typical
of thousands of witnesses to UFO phenomena who brave
the critics and speak the truth .
April 24
Some people , however, prefer to remain anonymous , like
the Elsecar man who was driving home after finishing work
in Ecclesfield, just north of Sheffield, on April 24. Just
after 10: 00 p . m . , he spotted a hovering UFO over Hoyland
and Elsecar. He stopped the car twice so he could study
the silent object more carefully.
' 'It was really very strange . Although it was dark I could
see it was a vague box -shape and there were big green ,
white, and red lights o n i t which stayed lit-up all the
time. It was huge and absolutely still , and what really
surprised me was that it did not make a sound . I thought
it must be some sort of aircraft, but it was so still and
quiet it could not possibly have been . ' '
The 38-year-old man drove home keeping his eye on the
object, but by the time he drove into his driveway, it had
disappeared from view. A next-door-neighbor was out
walking her dog , so he quickly 1nentioned what he had
seen . They both set off walking down the road to see if it

43. A British Perspective 1 988 29
was still there , but there was no sign . Later, he went in­
doors and told his wife what he had seen . He kept return­
ing to the window to see if it had returned , and was
rewarded . "I couldn 't believ� it when I saw it there again ,
so I called my wife to have a look . ' '
Together they watched the object move slowly across
the sky until it disappeared for the last time .
' 'We even opened the window to see if we could hear
a noise, but it did not make a sound . I could not believe
how big it was . Then it suddenly disappeared . Neither
of us have ever experienced anything l ike it before , and
I don't particularly want to ever again, altho.ugh we were
not frightened-just inquisitive really.
"I don 't want people to think we are crackpots . I
know it sounds stupid , but I know what I saw and I 'm
glad my wife witnessed it too. It's just a pity that we
didn 't have a film in our camera . If we had managed to
take a picture of it, people would have to believe us ! ' '
April 29
Since the beginning of the year, when it became apparent
that UFO activity was much higher than normal , our re­
searchers had devoted many long hours during bitterly cold
nights attempting to photograph the phenomena through­
out the region . On some rare occasions we had been suc­
cessful, but none more so than on the night of April 29,
around nine o'clock.
YUFOS investigators Paul Gamer, Ian Smith , and Allan
Petres had been called out to the Kimberworth area of
Rotherham, South Yorkshire . Several witnesses had re­
ported seeing an unusual light and contacted our South
Yorkshire Co-ordinator Mick Hanson , who quickly orga­
nized a team to investigate . Our three-man team had be­
gun their journey full of optimism that perhaps this would
be the night when they would arrive at the scene in time
to see a UFO .
Armed with three cameras and films o f various speeds,
they reached a high vantage-point known as Fenton Road .

44. 30 THE U FO REPORT
At exactly 9 : 00 p . m . , the men noticed a distinct yellow
and orange , glowing ball of light approaching their posi­
tion . They estimated the first point of reference in terms
of distance was approximately five miles . The men de­
scribed the object as long and oval-shaped , but no sound
could be heard . Allan Petres , using Konicacolor very fast
SR-V3200 ASA film, managed to take a series of pho­
tographs when the object came within a mile of thei r
position .
Photo 2 is representative of many similar photographs
that have been taken of UFOs. One finds an unusual shape,
pretty colors , but little else . On the other hand , by adopt­
ing computer-enhanced techniques , one is able to compare
such images with those of conventional craft . These sci­
entific methods have been used by some UFO groups for
many years , but as yet we have not received the completed
findings for this particular shot . The apparent vapor image
on the Kimberworth photograph was not visible to ground
observers , yet the camera recorded it. This could prove to
be highly significant .
Military Activity ?
A common feature of many UFO reports that appeared
throughout the summer months of 1988 was that of a large
triangular-shaped object d isplaying bright, illuminated
lights. 1vo of these appeared together over Stafford during
May. One witness , Mr. John Teasdale , felt sure that the
objects were no more than VC- IOs flying from RAF Brize
Norton in Oxfordshire . Checks with the base revealed two
such craft had taken off from the base on the night in
question and it was possible they may have flown over
Staffordshire .
However, another witness , Enid Thmer of Uttoxeter,
disagreed . "I don 't believe they were VC- lOs , no way, "
she said . "I would know one if I saw it. I often used to
go to air displays , and they definitely weren 't that . ' ' She
said the objects were very low, silent and slow-moving ,
with a lot of very bright lights. • • Other witnesses reported
seeing a strange cluster of orange and red lights . This
brings us to an area of UFO research which few groups in

45. A British Perspective 1 988 31
Britain become involved with : the role of the military, and
as a consequence, the government .
The public has a fair conception of what is traveling on
our roads , on the railways , and at sea . It has less idea of
what is flying overhead . In Britain, there are numerous
military airfields, as wel l as test sites for experimental
craft, some of which are used to fly remotely piloted ve­
hicles (RPVs) that are later used in Northern Ireland and
along the Soviet border, for example . Combine these with
fl ight-refueling exercises , and it is easy to understand how
many people can be forgiven for thinking they are wit­
nessing some form of UFO activity. During the miners'
strike of 1984 , hundreds of people reported seeing a clus­
ter of lights over East and West Yorkshire . Headlines next
day pronounced the visitor was a UFO ; something the
Ministry of Defense were happy to go along with , adding
they had no idea what the object may have been . Our re­
search proved that it was in fact a military helicopter using
a ' ' Nightsun ' ' searchlight that had been used to pinpoint
several power plants and coal mines in the event that it
would be needed by the police to hurry to a precise lo­
cation . This had happened in Nottinghamshire , where
pickets had appeared from woodland to confront men who
had defied the strike call and· were heading for work . The
police had used helicopters to illuminate the area, thus
depriving the pickets of their cover.
The government at the time insisted that the Armed
Forces were not involved in the strike, but we eventually
uncovered the truth . The Brad ford T elegraph & Argus
newspaper received our findings , conducted t�eir own re­
search , and on New Year's Eve splashed a front-page story
confi rming our analysis . The MoD would not comment ,
nor would a number of airport spokesmen who were ac­
tively involved in the episode .
Frightening Encounter
During the winter of 1988-89, four young women had set
out in a car for a night out in Wisbech , Cambridgeshire .
It was after 7 : 30 p . m . and their journey would take them
through dark , remote country lanes . Suddenly, two of the

46. 32 THE U FO REPORT
women became aware of a large star-like object to their
right which was airborne and keeping pace with them .
They frantically alerted their companions when the huge
diamond-shaped object shot toward the car. On its top was
a large , red light, and around the center were red , blue,
green , orange , and mauve lights.
The driver panicked at the close proximity of the object,
which was brilliantly illuminated . She accelerated to a
dangerous speed in an effort to put some distance between
them and the craft . The women became more terrified
when it came to within feet of the car, sped past them and
descended , stopping suddenly at ground level 100 yards
ahead of them . As the driver braked, and the car went into
a skid with wheels locked , the object " flipped " over and
came down to land on the side of the road . All four women
briefly observed some form of dome on the craft.
The car had come to a halt, but had spun round facing
the opposite direction . All the women were hysterical and
frantic with fear. The driver put her foot on the accelerator
and raced away, leaving the UFO behind . Not daring to
look back, they sped up a slight incline and were horrified
to see flashing blue lights in the sky above it. All thought
another UFO was waiting for them , but when they reached
the top of the incline were surprised to see four police
vehicles parked on the side of the road, which had not
been there before. They slowed down but did not stop, for
although they all felt relieved to see the cars , and six po­
lice officers who were moving into nearby fields and
woodland , they somehow didn't trust them and sped away.
The officers were carrying some kind of equipment, and
a couple of the women thought that at least two were armed
with rifles . All the women reported hearing the distinct
sound of a helicopter after passing the pol ice vehicles , but
the UFO was not a helicopter, they agreed , and in any
event it was enormous and silent.
The women took another route back home , canceling
their night out , and were comforted by their parents .
This case is under investigation by our organ ization . We
find it significant that four police vehicles should converge
in such a remote area, and hope to be able to throw more
light on this aspect of what is clearly an important case .

47. A British Perspective 1 988 33
* * *
The summer months saw a familiar crop of reports , but
clearly there had been a marked downturn in the number
of sightings . Some areas , however, experienced a burst of
activity, notably in the Midlands, around Stafford . The
Member of Parliament for Stafford, Bill Cash , requested
that witnesses contact him directly in order that he could
raise the matter with an appropriate minister at the House
of Commons.
Reports continued to come to our attention until the end
of the year; some good , others indiffer�nt , but each given
our attention-from the Merseyside cinema manager who
left his premises on October 17 and saw a silver disk­
shaped .craft descending over the area, hover and then de­
part-to the Sheffield couple who watched in awe as a
Mexican hat-shaped object illuminated the sky just 600 ft
above them , its dazzling light spinning continuously.
We also ended the year with a spectacular night-tim e
' ' fireball ' ' event which was seen over much of northern
England. On December 21 , reports began to reach local
police authorities and the media that a large glowing ball
of light had passed across the sky around midnight . By
contacting civil and military authorities , coastguards , and
witnesses , we built up a picture of the event that satisfied
us we were dealing with either space debris or satellite re­
entry, which disappointed a number of journalists who
thought a UFO story was about to break.
Whilst no single UFO case in Britain drew national or
international front-page headlines during 1988, we still
witnessed a greater increase in the overall number of
sightings than in recent years . The Ministry of Defense
received approximately 400 reports , a figure not exceeded
since 1981 (600 reports) . And at the same time, 1988 pro­
vided us with the largest public gathering for an organized
UFO conference here in Britain for a decade , when 420
people attended our annual event.
We were happy that so many witnesses to the year's
phenomena had come forward to divulge their experi­
ences , but disappointed that no real breakthrough had been
made in our efforts to identify the true nature of UFOs .
Much of the progress in that field has come from the

48. 34 T H E U FO REPORT
United States , where researchers have access to documen­
tation through the Freedom of Information Act, the media
is more responsive than in the U . K . , and the public are
more positive in their attitude.
The reports we have gleaned throughout the year, and
last decade, tell us that we are dealing with a very real
phenomenon that demands scientific study and greater in­
terest shown by politicians, who must begin to appreciate
that not everyone who claims to have seen a UFO is al­
ways mistaken . Until that takes place , it is left to organi­
zations like ours to maintain vigilance , and to apply
pressure on those key personnel within the government
who prefer the status quo to remain-perhaps forever.
REFERENCES
1 . Burrows , William E. : Deep Black: The Secrets of
Space Espionage, Bantam Press , London 1988, pp.
22-4 .
2. Good, Timothy : Above Top Secret: The W orldwide
UFO Cover- U Sidgwick & Jackson , London 1987 ,
p,
pp . 120-22 .
3. Good, Timothy : op . cit . , pp . 1 15- 16.
4. Camberley News, Surrey, January 29 , 1988 .
5. Birmingham Daily News, February 18, 1988 .
6. Birmingham Evening Mail, February 17 , 1988 .
7. Redditch Weekly Mail, February 26 , 1988.
8. Chase Post, Cannock, March 17 , 1988 .
9. Chase Post, March 7, 1988 .
10. Aberdare Leader, April 28, 1988.
11 . Stafford Newsletter, May 27 , 1988.

49. 2
U FO Lands in Suffol k­
and That ' s Offi cial !
RALPH NOYES
Ralph Noyes was born in the tropics and spent most
of his childhood in the West Indies . He served in the
RAF 1940-46 as a navigator, engaging in active ser­
vice in North Africa and the Far East.
He entered the Civil Service in 1949 and served
in the Air M inistry and subsequently the unified
M inistry of Defense. For nearly four years he headed
Defense Secretariat 8 (DS8) which among other
tasks logged UFO reports from members of the
public .
Ralph Noyes retired in 1977 , leaving in the grade
of Under Secretary of State. He has since pursued a
writing career, and has written a number of articles
and science fiction stories . A Secret Property (Quar­
tet Books , 1985) deals largely w ith UFOs , includ­
ing-in fictionalized fonn-the Rendlesham case . In
1989 Country Lif published several articles by him
e
on the mystery cornfield circles .
" UFO Lands in Suffolk-and That 's Offi cial ! "
These were the words i n which a British Sunday newspa­
per told us, in October 1983 , of one of the most remark­
able UFO cases in British history. The events they were
reporting had taken place nearly three years before, in
December 1980, in Rendlesham Forest in the English
county of Suffolk. Now, almost a decade after these events ,
much more has come to l ight, and we have had time to
draw conclusions . No apologies need be offered for re-
S

50. 36 T H E U FO REPORT
telling this extraordinary story : it encapsulates many of
the central problems of ufology.
I call these incidents ' ' The Rendlesham Case , ' ' after
the pine forest in which the events took place (see Fig­
ure 2: 1 ) . Other commentators have used other names ,
i ncluding ' ' The Bentwaters Case ' ' and ' ' The Wood­
bridge Case . ' ' A glance at the references at the end of
this article will remove any doubts about which case is
meant .
Why Is the Rend l esham Case I m po rtant?
In most UFO cases we have nothing more to go on than
what a witness is abte to tell us , often some days or weeks
after the event and not i nfrequently after the lapse of
months or even years. If we are lucky, there may be two
or more people who claim to have seen the same event .
At the end of the investigation we are left with our notes
of what the witness(es) have told us, supplemented per­
haps by a rough sketch of the site and an artist 's impres­
sion of whatever " entities " and/or " veh icles " formed
part of the narrative . Increasing shrewdness , painfully
learned over several decades, forces us to reduce most of
these laboriously gathered stories to the probable mis­
perception of something quite ordinary (or, rather rarely,
to hoax) . What remains when these " I FOs " (Identified
Flying Objects) have been eliminated makes up the hard
core of our " great cases , " those bizarre and puzzling
reports for which no conventional explanation seems
possible and which continue to interest those many of us
who suspect that behind all this ' ' smoke ' ' there must be
some important ' ' fire . ' ' But the hard evidence which
might conv ince our c ritics-or even persuade our­
selves ! -tends to remain woefully absent; as elusive , in­
deed , as the cli nching facts which , for more than a
century, have been sought by those engaged in psychical
research in pursuit of their own (surprisingly sim ilar)
dreams , hunches and El Dorados .
The crucial importance of the Rendlesham case is that
we have the signed statement of a relatively senior officer

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52. 38 T H E U FO REPORT
of the United States Air Force , Lt . -Col . (now Brigadier
General) Charles I. Halt, the then Deputy Base Com­
mander of the important USAF complex at RAF Bent­
waters/Woodbridge in Suffolk , submitted to the British
Min istry of Defense shortly after the alleged events oc­
curred. The receipt of this document by the British MoD
has been formally acknowledged in the British House of
Commons by the responsible Minister (even though it
took more than two years to wring out this statement ,
following a long period of denials and prevarications) .
And Colonel Halt has repeatedly confinned that it was
indeed he who signed it. Whatever interpretation we
care to place on this document , and much of this article
will be concerned with interpreting it , there can be no
doubt that it was officially issued .by an officially ap­
pointed U . S . authority to an official British governmental
agency.
The importance of this fact can hardly be exaggerated .
It i s unique in British ufology. Although diligent research
by ufologists has turned up some interesting cases in
which the British MoD were undoubtedly involved, for
example the Bentwaters/Lakenheath incidents of August
1956 and the occurrences at RAF West Freugh in April
1957 (of which good accounts are given in Above T op
Secret1 and have since been supplemented elsewhere) , no
defin itive statement has ever been issued about them , and
I doubt, as a former official of the Department, that any­
thing ever will be . The Halt memorandum is altogether
special in being an offic ial and officially authenti­
-
cated statement. Few other documents match it in this
-
respect. I can think of nothing except certain of the re­
leases made in the United States under the American
Freedom of Information Act and reproduced by Law­
rence Fawcett and Barry Greenwood in Clear Intent, 2
and , to a greater extent, by Timothy Good in Above T op
Secret.
As that Sunday paper put it, ' 'UFO Lands in Suffolk­
And That s O fficial. ' ' It was those last three words which
persuaded me, for the first time in my life, to buy that
particular scandal-sheet. Having bought it, I knew that the
case was crucial .